The history of the Department of Pharmacology

In 1919, Walter Ernest Dixon was appointed Reader in Pharmacology at Cambridge University. Dixon played a major role in the establishment of a Department of Pharmacology at Cambridge. The Wellcome Trust provided the financial support for the construction of a wooden building and circa 1965 the Dixon ‘hut’ was erected in the quadrangle of the Downing site. Its acquisition more than doubled the space available to the Department[1].

In 1971, the Department relocated from the Downing site to the Addenbrooke’s site. In 1989, the Department transferred to a new building located on Tennis Court Road.

The Sheild Professorship of Pharmacology was originally established by grace of 7 June 1946 as a personal chair for the tenure of Ernest Basil Verney. By grace of 11 March 1961 the Professorship was re-established on a permanent basis. The Professorship is named in honour of the surgeon Marmaduke Sheild.

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